All potential applicants to the Folk and Traditional Arts Fellowship (FAF) Grant program must contact the Arts and Cultural Sustainability Program Director to discuss their application before the deadline.

In order to be eligible, you must:

• Be 18 years of age or older.
• Have been domiciled in Rhode Island for at least one year at the time of application. This means Rhode Island is your primary residence, and is the address you use for legal forms, state income taxes, car registration, driver’s license or state issued identification, and voter registration - regardless of whether you own or rent your home. You must reside in the state for at least 183 days per year.
• Be a legal resident of the United States with a tax identification number (either Social Security number or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number). This includes refugees, immigrants, and temporary residents. This does not include people in the country on a tourist visa.
• Submit only one Folk and Traditional Arts Fellowship application per person per deadline. Individuals may not apply for both a Folk and Traditional Arts Fellowship and a Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship with the same deadline.

Ineligible

If you are:

• A staff member or Council member of RISCA, or an immediate family member of a staff or Council member.
• Currently enrolled in an arts degree seeking program or attending high school full time.
• Receiving General Operating Support for Artists funding from RISCA in the same fiscal year.
• Delinquent on any final reports for previous RISCA grants.
• You must be a United States citizen or Green Card holder and a current, legal resident of the State of Rhode Island. You must have established legal residence in Rhode Island for a minimum of twelve consecutive months prior to the date of application and you must be a current legal resident of the State of Rhode Island at the time that grant funds are disbursed. Rhode Island State Law (§44-30-5) defines a “resident” as someone “who is domiciled in this state” or “who is not domiciled in this state but maintains a permanent place of abode in this state and is in this state for an aggregate of more than one hundred eighty-three (183) days of the taxable year. If an individual selected for a grant award is no longer a resident of the State of Rhode Island when funds are to be disbursed, the grant award may be withdrawn. Applicants must be at least eighteen years of age. Students attending high school or students pursuing undergraduate or graduate degrees in an arts discipline or an arts-related subject area at the time of application may not apply.
• Only one Folk and Traditional Arts Fellowship application is allowed per person per deadline. Individuals may not apply for a Folk and Traditional Arts Fellowship and a Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship at the same deadline.
• Folk and Traditional Arts Fellowship applicants are ineligible to reapply for one fiscal year if they have received funding in this category.
• Past RISCA grant recipients may not reapply for RISCA funds unless all final reports for previous awards have been submitted.
• RISCA staff, Council and their spouses and immediate relatives are ineligible to apply for RISCA funds.

All grant awards are contingent upon the availability of funds from the Rhode Island General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

• Two awards will be given out each year. One for $7,000 and one for $3,000.
• Grant applications are considered on a competitive basis. Award amounts may vary cycle to cycle depending on available funds, number of applications, and the panel decision-making. For more information on our Decision-Making Process, visit our Applicant Resources web page.
• You also have the option of declining the grant award with no penalties.
• If you receive a grant, you must credit the Agency on all marketing materials. See Acknowledging RISCA.

Allowable

• The Folk Art Fellowship Grant is unrestricted funding. We ask and expect you to spend the funds in a way that helps you advance your art practice and art career.
• Programs must occur in spaces that are Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant. You are ineligible for a RISCA grant if your facility does not meet ADA standards. See the NEA’s Accessibility: Publications, Checklists, & Resources for more information.

Not Allowable

Grant funding cannot be used for the following:

• Capital projects, including the construction or renovation of buildings, or additions to buildings.
• Development efforts, such as social events or, benefits or any fundraising expenses.
• Addressing, eliminating, or reducing existing debt or for contributions to an endowment fund.  
• Purchasing of alcohol, food, or beverage.
• Prizes and awards for an event, person, and/or organization.
• Regranting.
• Activities that are associated with a graduate or undergraduate degree program or for which academic credit is received.
• Applications for projects that proselytize or promote religious activities, or which take place as part of a religious service.­­
• Programming, performances, and exhibitions unavailable and/or inaccessible to the public.
• Expenses incurred or activity happening outside of the award period.

Applications will be evaluated based on artistic quality, as defined by traditionality in the case of applicants for the Folk and Traditional Arts Fellowship.

Quality and artistic merit of the folk and traditional artist. (75%)

Traditionality and artistic merit of the folk artist.

Extent of folk artist’s prior familiarity with the traditional art form.

Extent of folk artist’s commitment to continuing the traditional art form.

Did the folk artist demonstrate artistic excellence through submission of supporting materials? (25%)

Applicants should submit the best quality support materials possible. It is the applicant's responsibility to ensure that support materials are prepared and submitted adequately to RISCA for panel review.

You may submit up to 10 support materials, along with a website if you have one, and an artist bio, resume or CV. All support materials are optional, but strongly recommended. The support materials should help tell the story of your application and be directly related to the Folk and Traditional Arts Fellowship application.

• The website can be submitted as a link and link to the website of either the lead applicant or the project.
• The artist bio, resume, or CV will need to be submitted as either a Word Document or PDF. Please submit whichever of the three, or a combination, that you feel best represents you.
• A numbered support materials list of what you are submitting along with a one to two sentence description. This must be either a Word Document or a PDF.
• Up to 10 attachments that tell the story of your application and relate to the review criteria. Examples of support materials can include artist resumes/CVs; images/video/audio of work by applicant and/or participating artists; marketing collateral for past projects; and up to two letters of support from community leaders or organizations familiar with the culture-bearer’s folk and traditional artform and its impact on the community.

Note: If you are submitting video or audio, please link to YouTube, Vimeo, SoundCloud in the text box and on the support material list. File formats you can directly upload to the application include JPG, PDF, Word, Excel. Please do not submit files in Pages or Numbers. (Our grants system is unable to read files in these formats.)